It’s official

I’m a little confused by the wording on the cover of the December 2020-January 2021 edition of Canada’s History,

“Beyond the Canvas: The life and art of Molly Lamb Bobak: Canada’s first female war artist.” She may be the first official Second World War artist, but I believe Mary Riter Hamilton may have been Canada’s first female war artist.

Hamilton was not an “official” artist, but she painted more than three hundred images during the First World War, which was earlier than Lamb Bobak’s paintings. She is being honoured on a stamp by Canada Post. The War Amps produced an award-winning documentary called No Man’s Land that recounts Mary Riter Hamilton’s story and features her art.

Sarah Clark Gregory via email

Editor’s note: Hamilton applied for a position as an official war artist during the First World War but, because she was a woman, her request was denied. She later travelled to Europe in 1919 on a commission from the Amputation Club of British Columbia (now the War Amps) to paint the scenes of devastation caused by the fighting. Lamb Bobak, who was a member of the Canadian Women’s Army Corps, applied for and received official war artist designation, making her Canada’s first official female war artist.